hi everyone,… Could someone please help…my first proposal…
I have been building sites for a few years but mainly for friends and family. Now I have been asked to write a proposal for a friend so they can submit this to there board, before I can formally discuss any major issues or concerns, which inturn give them a better cost / quote.
The company in mention is a small but well built company with a 30 year history. They have built up a strong client base through word of mouth, but there current site is dreadfull and has no SEO in place and no other marketing.
The current site has at the moment 46 pages from 6 main sections. And is currently a wordpress site but badly designed and built.
Within the proposal I didn’t want to give a figure or breakdown without first talking to the client and really knowing what the client needs. But, my friend needs to submit a figure based on a starting price, and then after proper consultation I can discuss a more clear and structured cost, keeping in mind the client budget (if there is one).
I know this is a difficult quesion to answer, but what price would you give to design and develop a CM site exactly using the same Elements / Nav structure as above. this would only be a starting price.
Also, within the propsal I would like some user statistics to help the client understand certain trends when a user comes to a web page ie: how many times does a user come to your site before they purchase a product / service. Does anyone know where I can find good statistics to use within a proposal…
Thanks
lister
Judging by your post, you may be looking at this in the wrong way. You are citing all sorts of problems that you have with their site, but most companies don’t really want to hear that. Instead, you need to focus on what YOU can do to make it better.
Rather than getting into marketing statistics, you need to become laser-sharp on what, exactly, you can do for them. Then, look at the various services that you can offer and describe what benefits each service will have for the client.
Once you made a case for the value that you bring to the table, you can put some price ranges for their consideration.
thanks for your reply, I have almost completed the proposal and have approached this with a competitor analysis to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various sites in the same market. I have listed various improvements I like to make to any website, ensuring I’m not negative to the prospective client and his business.
I have approached this in a very constructive manner and was looking to include some statistics to highlight user behavior on the web.
As for the cost, well I knew it would be a hard one to answer, but needed a basic guide, so I can present it with a starting figure, but encourage them of extra value I can bring.
cheers
lister
Just make sure that you are answering a question that the client is interested in. I’ve sat through so many pitches where the vendor is making this huge case to support the value of his services, but I didn’t care about most of it. The vendors that get through to me are the ones who can speak to the topics that I care about, for MY business.
this is my problem, at this sage I have not even discussed any issues with the potential client. I have been asked from a friend to create a document which demonstrates my skills and how I can help achieve there overall goals.
Without any initial discussion I am in limbo what sort of starting price I can offer. They just need a price to get the board interested. But I think this is a mistake without first discussing there needs with me.
Thats why I was looking at some advice on costing, so I can say well, taking your site 46 pages and redesigning without any real strategy, this is my starting price…
thanks for all the tips so far, I really appreciate it.
lister
Well, not that you asked for MORE advice, but…
You said that your friend asked you to create a document to help them ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. So, what are their goals? It’s easy to list generic goals, like increasing sales, but most companies have their own special set of problems and goals, etc.
How much do you know about them? Do they want:
- To grow their business?
- To streamline their business?
- To provide extra information on line to clients?
- To communicate online using an extranet?
- To launch an ad campaign?
- To introduce new products/services?
- To have online billing and payment?
etc. etc. etc.
When I owned a services shop, I had SEO professionals calling me ALL THE TIME and giving me these long, boring pitches about how much SEO could increase my sales. What a waste - they usually wouldn’t ask me what my ‘problem’ was - the problem was that we were very successful at PPC advertising (we outsourced it) and we were swamped with business. We needed a website that would more effectively manage tire-kickers and help our sales pipeline so that we could get more lucrative clients, not just more clients.
What is the problem that you are trying to solve for this client? Why do they want a new site? Do they want a new site? What DO they want?